My Sporting Heroes
I have been lucky to see a wealth of fantastic sporting players, some for my own team, some for the opposition and some of my sporting heroes.
Luis Suarez, Mesut Ozil, Kevin De Bruyne, Sergio Aguero to name some footballers, Luke Campell Vs Vasyl Lomachenko was a privilege to watch and Shaun Johnson, Cameron Smith, Benji Marshall and Sam Burgess to name a few RL players.
Who are your five best players you have seen live?
Below I name my sporting heroes, unfortunately haven’t/didn’t see all of them live, but still heroes and all legends to me. Who are your sporting heroes?
Gareth Ellis, Tyson Fury, Steve Prescott, Rob Burrow, David Allen, David Rocastle.
Gareth Ellis
It’s been fantastic to watch Gareth Ellis over the years. There are far too many superlatives to describe Ellis, the best I’ve seen in a Black & White Jersey. Hull FC have had so many brilliant players in their 121 year history. The early greats of Jack Harrison MC VC, Billy Batten, Johnny Whiteley to the 80s icons of Clive Sullivan, Peter Sterling and James Leuluai and then the 21st century greats of Jason Smith and Richard Swain. FC have had an array of legends and Ellis is up there alongside these legends.
2013, Leeds away, first game of the season was Ellis’ debut or supposed to be. Having broken his foot in the warm up, sneers and comments flooded in from opposing fans but the Black & Whites had the last laugh, as Ellis did what no player has done for FC and that was to walk up the Wembley steps as a Champion, not once but twice. Not before a agonising and painful injury.
2015, against Hull KR away, Ellis snapped his achilles, a long recovery back but one in which didn’t deter the 34-year-old. A long 6 month setback but 2016 will live long in memory for everyone associated with Hull FC. Having beat Wigan Warriors 16–12 in the Challenge Cup Semi Final, FC took on Warrington Wolves, aiming to finally win the Cup at Wembley on the 9th time of asking.
27th August 2016, Hull FC’s greatest day in 152 years, the day Hull FC finally won at Wembley. 9th time lucky the curse was lifted, the Wembley hoodoo went and that ‘song’ to never be sung again as the Black and Whites clinched a fourth Challenge Cup defeating Warrington Wolves 12–10.
Ellis then lifted the Cup once again, after FC secured a fantastic 18–12 victory over Wigan Warriors and for those two years Hull FC played like a house on fire, unfortunately suffered two semi-finals defeats, but the less we speak about these the better. Ellis then retired or that’s what we thought.
Having originally retired at the end of the 2017 campaign, Ellis made a surprise return from retirement to play his 100th game for the club against Wigan. He then continued to play on into 2020, making 28 further appearances, not looking out of place once, before injury finally curtailed his swansong.
It wasn’t the ending anyone wanted but having played 128 games for FC over seven years lifting the Cup twice, it wasn’t a bad signing for someone who was supposedly, according to others, coming for a paycheck. Ellis, at 39 years old, finished his career on 477 career appearances, including 33 international caps for England & Great Britain, and 88 career tries.
Tyson Fury
Another inspiration is Tyson Fury, he may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but for what he has done for raising issues around mental health should be applauded. A fantastic boxer who never gives up, even when things are tough, Fury battles on and believes in himself.
In 2015, Fury went to Germany to take on the gladiator and the feared Wladimir Klitschko for the WBA, WBO, IBF, IBO, The Ring magazine, and lineal heavyweight titles. It may have been a boring fight for the casuals but Fury showed dominance and ring craft to secure a unbelieve points decision. What happened next shocked the world.
He battled depression, addiction and suicidal thoughts, which culminated in him nearly driving his Ferrari off a bridge at 190mph. Fury has said he “lost the will to live” and “prayed for death on a daily basis”. A desolate Fury had consumed his way to obesity, reportedly ballooning in weight to almost 400lbs and all hopes of a return seemed lost. But in 2017 the comeback was on.
Fury summoned the strength to overcome his demons, lost 130lbs, fought his way back to the pinnacle of the heavyweight division and won the hearts of boxing fans across the world. With no warm up fight, Fury’s comeback fight was against the biggest puncher in the world Deontay Wilder, scheduled for 1st December 2018.
Wilder said “These fighters have to be perfect for 12 rounds, I only have to be perfect for 2 seconds.” It was an unbelievable performance by Fury, as the result was unbelievable but for all the wrong reasons.
In round 9, Wilder dropped Fury with a short left hook followed by an overhand right, Fury beat referee Jack Reiss’ count and survived the round. Even though Fury was dropped, for most of the fight Fury dominated. In round 12, Wilder landed a fierce right-left combination which put Fury down hard on his back. The crowd, commentary team, Wilder and the millions around the world believed the fight was over. But Fury didn’t, he somehow got back up and continued excellently till the last bell.
Mexican judge Alejandro Rochin scored the fight 115–111 for Wilder, Canadian judge Robert Tapper had it 114–112 for Fury and British judge Phil Edwards scored it a 113–113 draw meaning the result was a 12-round split decision draw. A robbery but sweet justice followed two years later. “I am not a special human being. I am a normal man. I wasn’t just down for me and my family; I was representing people with mental health problems around the world. I had to continue and carry on,” Fury said.
In the rematch, it was a sensational Fury as he dominated Wilder, knocking him down twice, before Wilder’s corner threw in the towel in the seventh round. With the victory, Fury won the WBC strap, the only title that had been missing from his impressive collection. Fury said: “I fought back from thinking about suicide, mental health, depression, anxiety. I wanted more than anything to show the world it can be done. Anything is possible with the right mindset and “If I can turn my life around from what I have been through, and still come back, then anybody can achieve anything they want to from life. I mean that.”
We all hope to see Tyson Fury Vs Anthony Joshua in 2021, but who wins?
Steve Prescott MBE
Legend is a term that gets thrown around quite a lot, but Steve Prescott was and still is a legend and hero to many. Unfortunately I didn’t get to see the fullback play for Hull FC but his story after rugby league is inspiring.
At the age of just 32, in 2006, he was cruelly diagnosed with Pseudomyxoma Peritonei, or PMP, a rare tumour that has a tendency to grow very slowly over many years and was given only months to live. Steve continued to strive and continued to fight and he refused to let the situation get him down. Steve completed many fundraising efforts even when his chances of survival seemed in the balance, Steve ran marathons, walked thousands of miles, inspired thousands of people to never give up, even when the odds are against you and raised thousands of pounds for charity.
He showed terrific courage and has become an inspirational figure to thousands, not just within the Rugby League community itself but to everyone. November 2013, Steve sadly passed away at the age of 39.
His legacy still lives on as The Steve Prescott Foundation has been established to provide funds for both The Christie Hospital in Manchester — one of the world’s leading cancer hospitals — and the Rugby League Benevolent Fund, which offers help to those who have been seriously injured playing one of the world’s toughest sports.
One In A Million, My Story by Steve Prescott MBE is a fantastic read about Steve Prescott’s life, from being one full of colour as a top level rugby league player, to a heart-rending tale of battling cancer. A extract follows:
“Stephen knew that only a cure would help him and he never gave up the search. His single-mindedness led him to Oxford’s Churchill Hospital for a ground-breaking, pioneering modified multivisceral transplant which would give him a new set of organs and remove the tumour, giving him a potential cure of this devastating condition and a second chance of life.
Unfortunately, despite the optimism immediately after the 32 hour operation, we did not get the successful outcome that everybody involved desperately hoped for. On November 9, 2013 Stephen passed away after multiple organ failure caused by graft versus host disease — a complication following the transplant.”
Rob Burrow
I always admired Rob Burrow whilst watching rugby, with being small I took great inspiration that Rob never shone away from his height and always was determined that his height wouldn’t have an effect on him. Albeit it, I absolutely hated when he played against us but you have to admire that he never backed down.
Rob Burrow was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in December 2019. (MND) describes a group of diseases that affect the nerves (motor neurones) in the brain and spinal cord that tell your muscles what to do. With MND, messages from the motor neurones gradually stop reaching the muscles. This leads the muscles to weaken, stiffen and waste.
Rob struggles to walk and cannot not talk now but he has never complained once and is fighting every single day to raise awareness for this cruel disease. It’s not the size of the dog in the fight, it’s the size of the fight in the dog. Rob was awarded with a MBE in December and his friend and former teammate ran seven marathons in seven consecutive days raising £2,677,886.
Speaking of the incredible awareness-raising campaign, Rob said to Leeds Live: “I feel very much part of Team MND and it has been heartening and heartbreaking in equal measure to share the stories of other people’s journey with MND.
“My voice has gone but I communicate via my phone app which uses hundreds of hours of audio from me from my playing days to help form words and I’m in good spirits and have a positive mindset.” Everyone is behind Rob his battle against MND and we hope one day we will find a cure and that the latest trial does provide hope to the 5,000 people who are living with MND in the UK today. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-51122498
Picking a fifth sporting hero was proving to be difficult, Kirk Yeaman, Richard Horne, Richard Whiting, Jack Wilshere, Luke Campbell, Anthony Joshua, Dean Windass are all worthy people and sporting stars I have in high regard. But I cannot separate my fifth choice from David Allen or David Rocastle. So I included both in this article.
David Allen
I was very fortunate to meet David Allen at his gym in Leeds for a university assignment. He is one of the most down to earth and likeable guys. Dave is well liked in the sporting community and has thousands of fans for his honest and funny views and his approachability.
The White Rhino has now retired from boxing and has always been honest about his mental health problems and is a good advocate for mental health. He always has time for his fans on Instagram and is always answering fans questions on his Insta stories.
“We can all talk [about mental health] and I remember years ago I was one of the first ones,” he told Sky Sports News. “I think we’re starting to tackle it head on, literally head on. It’s easy for people like me because I was very lucky at a young age that I realised what I was, “I wasn’t ashamed of it and I just came out and said it how I see it, like I do with everything. If I can encourage one person to do it, and they can do it in turn, the world will be a much better place.”
In an interview with new age boxing he said: “I’d been boxing about 15 months and had a gambling problem as well as depression which didn’t help. I think it made it a lot worse. That was my coping mechanism; I wasn’t training at the time and went up to 21 stone.
If I can admit to it, being as stubborn as I am and I’m meant to be a big hard man, I think a lot of people can talk about it too, the best thing I ever did was put myself in a position where I had to talk about it.”
David Rocastle
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see Rocastle play, well I wasn’t even born when he was in his prime. A player who has played for the two clubs I support, Arsenal and my home town, Hull City.
Rocky was adored by Arsenal fans, he adored playing for his hometown club and played with his heart on his sleeve every game.
This article explains more on why he means so much to Arsenal fans. https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/why-david-rocastle-means-so-much-arsenal-fans
A magical player and unstoppable on his day, injuries hampered him but he never gave up throughout his career. He was sadly diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma in February 2001 and sadly passed away on March 31st 2001 at the age of 33.
Arsenal’s next match after his death, was the North London derby against bitter rivals Spurs and the match was preceded by a minute’s silence which was impeccably observed by both sets of fans.
Rocastle was a shining light in the often dark days of English football in the 1980s and his loss would be felt throughout the football family and not just at Arsenal. The quote “Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent” is widely attributed to Rocastle, a fantastic quote.
Sources: Sky Sports, BBC Sport, Steve Prescott Foundation, Intu Boxing, Guardian, New Age Boxing, MND Association, Leeds Live.
Thank you for reading about my sporting heroes, who are yours?
